Don’t Get Lost in the Scroll: How to tell a story that gets noticed!

“What do you mean you didn’t see my post last night?”

I felt ignored, disrespected, and offended. I broke out in a cold sweat.

I had put a lot into the post to promote my business, as I am sure you do with your business.

They just scrolled by it. It never got their attention.

It was horrible.

And then I woke up.

It was a nightmare but MAN… it felt very real even after I was fully awake.

You know why? Because that can and does happen when we are creating content to promote our businesses.

These are the facts: there is A LOT of competition out there for people’s time and attention.

So how do you do it in a way that gets attention?

You need to learn how to tell a good story.

What makes up a good story? There is a formula for that.

The first thing to have is a good hook, something that grabs people’s attention. An example of that can be: “I write this sitting in the kitchen sink.” That’s the first line of Dodie Smith’s 1948 book I Capture the Castle.

Once I read that, I knew I was going to read what came after it.

That’s really what you want from your social media. You want your audience to want what comes next.

After the strong hook, you need to establish the characters and setting. All stories have characters and a place where they happen. Make sure your audience knows who those are right away, especially if the story is about something you experienced personally.

Then, your story has to go somewhere. It has to have a beginning, a middle, and an end. This is very important as you want your audience to get invested in where your story goes even after a few seconds.

You may be thinking: “That’s a whole lot for a social media post.”

No. Not really.

You need to remember that you don’t want to be scrolled past. Again, these are the elements that get people invested enough to read or watch all of your posts.

?Just think of how you like your stories to be told to you: that’s a good rule of thumb when you are creating stories to share with others.

The best stories are the ones that connect with our emotions. Don’t leave that out of your story telling. If you are talking about being mad or happy or silly, say that. Everyone who reads or watches you can connect with those emotions.

Finally, get to the point. Before you write or think of your first word, be clear on what action you want your audience to take with your story.

Is it to click on a link? Leave a comment? Buy now?

That’s why your beginning, middle, and end matter so much. They are going to lead your audience to the very action you want them to take.

Just like I am going to do right now: I want you to tell me what you think about this post!

I created a short PDF of storytelling how-tos and prompts for you to use to tell your stories better and I’d love to share that with you!

The way to get that is by leaving me a ?? in the comments of this post!

I have a lot more to share with you so subscribe and check back for more content that will help you to get the attention your business deserves to have!

I look forward to hearing from you!

Laura “Client Detective” Scott

#DigitalMarketing #OnlineAdvertising #SocialMediaMarketing #SEOStrategy #ContentStrategy